The entire pocket space unfolded in his perception. And what he found confirmed was its size.

Thankfully, it was actually small. Small enough that his entire awareness could reach every point in this place.

It was roughly the size of a city block. And it was structured and sustained almost entirely by Anton’s magic.

Which made him realize that a space like this would not be able to contain other beings of their level indefinitely. Not him, nor his beast-class summons.

While Ethan was still piecing through the structure of the pocket dimension in his mind, his summons returned.

Arael descended with a floating ink platform by her side. Atop that platform were things like weapons, and body remnants of the league members she had taken down.

Among them, was a ring stood out bearing the crest of the Fitzgeralds, Lucien’s family.

Nina arrived with Casper’s head in her hands. She walked directly to Ethan, drove the hilt of her blade into the ground, and dropped to one knee.

"My liege," she said, in a ceremonial tone. "I have brought you the head of your enemy."

Ethan grimaced for the disgusting sight of the extended head. Then he sighed and smiled at Nina’s ever devout expression.

"This is enough," he said, reaching out and taking only a small portion of Casper’s hair instead.

Nina nodded, then tossed the head aside and returned to position.

Ethan waved his hand and the spoils of battle were absorbed into his inventory. The weapons, and tiny body parts.

System reward notifications began to flood his vision, but he ignored them and made the screens go away.

The main priority for him was leaving him, and that was what his attention had already moved onto.

Ethan exhaled slowly. There was no time to wait for the dimension to weaken under the weight of other strong beings.

Instead, he was going to overwhelm and force it open. A space sustained by mana could easily be overloaded by the same essence.

He lowered himself to the ground, folding his legs into a seated position.

Then he let go. Mana surged outward in waves, then pressure, then absolute density, slowing filling the pocket dimension itself with an impossible volume of energy.

——

At Gritnia’s Ship Port...

The group arrived through Isabella’s shadow movement, re-emerging from the darkness at an elevated angle above the dockyards.

They were out of the natural line of sight of the people at the dock, somewhere behind the massive silhouette of anchored ships.

Percival looked unsteady, as though whatever he had just experienced inside of Bella’s shadow still haunted him.

He turned sharply toward the Princess, in disbelief. "What the hell was that thing that looked like you in there?"

For a moment, Isabella did not answer. While she looked sorry, she was also searching for the right way to respond.

"I’m sorry," she said. "I don’t really know how to explain it."

Percival sighed, but Hayley let out a silly short laugh.

"I mean...I got along pretty well with that version of her."

Percival just shook his head wearily. Isabella looked at Hayley for a moment, puzzled by the comment, then simply nodded and stepped a little aside, as if choosing not to engage with it further.

In her thoughts, she said. "Of course you would."

Somehow, it made sense. Her alter-ego and Hayley herself, seemed to sit on the same strange wavelength.

Her attention then returned towards the sea, "shall we?"

Their objective was not completed yet.

As they stepped away from the cover of the docked ships, shadows gathered beneath the Arcorys siblings again, but this time it was not a transfer.

It spread upward, wrapping around their bodies like cloth before solidifying into wing-like structures, shaped entirely from compressed shadow essence.

This was Isabella’s doing. She had just granted them a way to fly forward.

Percival had move on first, given that he knew more of the direction, while the Princess and Hayley followed behind.

At first, there was nothing to guide them. Just water, distance, and the dull horizon line.

But Percival did not stop looking. Ethan’s words kept playing back in his mind.

Distance from the port to the cloaked island was short in comparison to open sea travel, but not obvious.

Percival’s eyes narrowed slightly as he scanned the horizon in segments instead of a whole.

Left to right, Then forward. Then diagonal correction.

He began aligning mental markers.

A broken mast from a derelict ship half-sunk too far east. A jagged reef line that bent unnaturally in a shallow curve to the north.

And further out, something that should not have been noticeable at all unless it was actively being looked for, a long, pale driftwood formation suspended oddly above the waterline.

Those were not random details. In this case, they acted like coordinates.

He then said, "Okay... if I line this up with what Ethan said..."

Hayley and Bella drifted closer, watching him with curiosity, as though he was solving something only he could see.

Percival then lowered himself to a certain point, almost letting his feet touch the water.

He slowed his breathing, recalibrating again.

"If I am correct," he muttered, "this should be it."

Isabella moved as she tilted her head slightly, as if listening to something. It was extremely thin, but she felt it. There was definitely magic in this place.

If she wasn’t a caster at such a high level, and wasn’t specifically focusing her magic senses toward that corner, there was no way she would have known.

No other class had astute level of mana sensing like casters.

Isabella nodded. "Yeah, this is it."

Percival smiled a bit and nodded.

Then the princess closed her eyes a bit and extended her hand forward, feeling for the trace of magic itself.

Suddenly, there was a subtle distortion in space ahead, like the air itself was slightly misaligned with the ocean beneath it.

The cloaking spell flickered, reacting under the weight of an overwhelming presence pressing against it. Then the air itself seemed to split like a curtain being drawn apart in one motion, fully revealing the hidden island and the house set at its forefront.

The current inhabitants of the house instant felt the presence of the figures that had emerged on the island.

Rayla turned to her window with a distraught expression. "W-who are these people?"

The magic energy coming from both Hayley and Isabella was enough to make her skin shiver.

——

A/N: Expect Back To Back Bonuses this week!

And For the Trial Result yesterday, well it’s not fully won yet. The case was adjourned till next week, but my client went home with a feeling of satisfaction.

There’s hope that he’d be able to recover his money withheld by the fuckin bank.